Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats said the plans are ‘frankly dangerous’ and will put peoples lives at risk

Dr Dean Eggitt, a GP from near Doncaster, told the Mail: “Now the only way you can get an eight-minute ambulance is if you’re dead, or dying.

“I’m worried as a doctor but also worried as a patient. With a heart attack, every minute is dead heart cells. It’s the same with a stroke, every minute is dead brain cells. There are constant campaigns saying every minute counts. Every minute you wait brain cells are going to die. Yet now they’re saying you can wait from eight minutes to potentially 40 minutes.”

Set out in a document sent by Yorkshire Ambulance Service to GPs, the proposals state that an ambulance will only be dispatched within eight minutes if someone’s heart has stopped beating or they are unable to breathe.

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Normally, patients having a stroke, heart attack, or with meningitis or sepsis are dispatched an ambulance within eight minutes.

Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: “Plans like this are frankly dangerous. This will just put people’s lives at risk.”

An NHS England spokesman added: ‘The letter from Yorkshire Ambulance Service does not relate to 999 calls made by the public, but is part of locally-determined arrangements to transport patients to hospital who have already been assessed by a GP or other health care professional.”

A Yorkshire Ambulance Service spokesman said: “We confirm that updated guidance has been issued to GPs and healthcare professionals in the Yorkshire and Humber region which is specific to them making a request for an ambulance when a patient is in their care.”

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